


silhouetto of a man

by EmilyArmadillo



Category: Carry On Series - Rainbow Rowell
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Animal Metaphors, Baz is a vampire, Canon Rewrite, Canonical Character Death, Ghosts, M/M, Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-13 12:27:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28653498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmilyArmadillo/pseuds/EmilyArmadillo
Summary: Spells that mention animals are especially powerful if they're cast by or on someone whose daemon is that animal. Maybe that's why it went so wrong when Simon castHair of the dogon Agatha in sixth year- then again, maybe that's just Simon.
Relationships: Insidious Humdrum & Simon Snow, Penelope Bunce & Simon Snow, Tyrannus Basilton "Baz" Pitch/Simon Snow
Comments: 1
Kudos: 17





	silhouetto of a man

Spells that mention animals are especially powerful if they're cast by or on someone whose daemon is that animal. Maybe that's why it went so wrong when Simon cast **Hair of the dog** on Agatha in sixth year- then again, maybe that's just Simon.

Simon's daemon settled only a few weeks after he started first year at Watford. Baz had no end of snide comments about the Golden Boy with the Golden Retriever. Simon says that the time Baz threatened to cast **Die like a dog** on him should count as an attempt on his life.

It's late October and Simon and Penny are studying out on the hills. Simon isn't really working on his spells, instead rhythmically petting his daemon's fur.

"The Veil will close soon," he says.

"Yes it will. **_The game is on!_** " The chess pieces over which Penny's holding her ring don't react. She frowns and prepares to try again. There's a lot of time still to work a spell out, but she's still frustrated. The little owl sitting on her knee tells her to be patient.

In first year, when everyone's daemons were settling, Penny had gone through a phase where she learned everything about daemonic meanings, connotations, and magickal uses. When Simon had let Baz's teasing get to him, she'd consoled him that his daemon meant he was loyal and kind, and besides that, there were lots of spells about dogs, like **Three-dog night** , an air conditioning spell. Simon never ended up using dog spells very much, as dicey as his magic was, but sometimes when he was keyed up after fighting some monster Penny casting **Let sleeping dogs lie** was the only thing that could get him to rest.

Herself, Penny didn't have much to work with besides **Night Owl** , which was pretty good substitute for caffeine if you wanted to study late. Bird spells worked well for her too **(Early bird catches the worm** is much like **Night Owl** , but only works in the morning) **,** but not quite as strongly. As for the meaning of her daemon, no one doubted it was a reference to her intelligence. She had always been at the top of their year.

When Agatha's daemon had settled as a canary, she wouldn't listen to anyone who tried to tell her what that meant. "He's a bird," she'd say. "He doesn't _have to_ mean _anything_."

" ** _The game is afoot!_** " Penny tries. "Snakes!" She drops her ring hand, defeated. "Aunt Beryl hasn't shown," she comments to Simon. "She probably won't, now. It's been cool though, hasn't it. The visitings." She notices Simon frown. "Simon?"

"I just think there's a bit… disturbing," he admits.

"I told you Simon, they're not zombies," Penny sighs.

"No, no, I mean… that they don't have daemons. That they're still here but, without them." Several weeks before, he'd seen a figure in his room, although it could have been a dream; a slender figure, completely solitary. No daemon in its arms or on its shoulder, or standing next to it silhouetted by the window. That it was a dead person didn't scare him. That it was _half_ of a person did.

Penny gains a look of understanding. "I think it's sad," she says. "That they're still here. But it's because they have something to say."

"It must be something really important. To make you willing to exist like that."

Penny gives him a look. "The truth is important."

* * *

The morning after Baz and Simon first kiss, Baz watches Simon sleep. He sleeps with his arms wrapped around his daemon in a hug, even though there isn't quite enough room on the couch for both of them. Baz can't relate to the way he cuddles his own soul. Baz's dragonsnake sleeps looped over his headboard. Only when he was in the coffin did his daemon sleep curled around his arm.

Despite its name, a dragonsnake is a Normal sort of snake, black and some 60 centimeters long. There's no shortage of interpretations of a snake. Baz is not the first Grimm nor Pitch with a snake, and they and others of the Families see it to mean power, sacredness. Snow and Bunce had been quick to connect it to untrustworthiness, evil, the snake in the grass. Baz allowed them to think this, sometimes suggesting that his snake would bite and poison Snow's dog. Snow had yet to realize that dragonsnakes are nonvenemous.

Quietly, Baz has his own theory. Snakes are symbolic of rebirth and renewed life, because they shed their skins. His snake as the daemon of a boy who once died. It had always bothered Snow that Baz didn't have a bat; he considered it the only hole in his theory that Baz was a vampire. But privately Baz thought that a snake was even more apt. A vampire bit a human and turned him vampire; an ouroboros bites its own tail.

"You don't get to watch me sleep now, just because we're snogging," Snow says.

Once he's been roused, Snow follows Baz to the library, and isn't that just like the dog in him. Baz ignores Simon while he shambles towards a point. "Baz. I'm not going to kill you."

When Baz won't return the sentiment, Simon's dog's tail hangs low. Simon's emotions are always so clear- the dog is practically whimpering. Baz can't imagine living with his heart on his sleeve like that. Baz snaps that they can't forget about the corruption in the World of Mages. The dog _does_ whimper.

"Are you talking about the Mage?" Simon asks, pained.

"Yes."

"I wish you wouldn't."

"How can I not talk about the Mage when I'm talking to _the Mage's Dog_?"

Simon looks as if he's been slapped. "Is that what you think of me?" he asks stupidly. It's far from the first time Baz has called him that- _the Mage's Dog and his dog_ \- but this time it's cut deep.

"Isn't that how you think of yourself? Loyal? What a good boy!" Baz mocks.

"Do you ever not go for the lowest blow?" Simon asks. He strokes his dog's ears when he's distressed.

"That's what snakes do, Snow. They strike."

Simon trembles. Quietly, he says, "When you look at me, is that all you see?"

Baz looks at him, his messy hair and dotted skin and his 'I'm not going to fight you at all.' Baz sighs. "Tu as du chien," he admits.

"Is that a spell? You know I don't know French."

"You're a moron, Snow."

* * *

Agatha always suspected she'd be killed by someone looking for Simon, and it's about to happen. When the Mage grabs her, he casts **A bird in the hand** , which makes Agatha unable to pull free. The canary huddles in Agatha's coat, pressing his head to her cheek as she cries.

Agatha becomes dazed when they are both slammed to the ground.

"Davy," her savior says, "let her go. **_Free as a bird!_** " The feeling of a stranger casting magic on her prickles through Agatha like the crunch of dry grass in autumn, and she's able to pull free of the Mage. She stumbles back, her canary flapping up to her shoulder, trying to understand what's happening. The Mage is casting at a woman with a staff as a wand as a goat as a daemon- it's Ebb, the goatherd.

"Get out of here," she tells Agatha. " ** _Fly away home!_** " Ebb doesn't cast is as nuanced as Baz did against the dragon, but Agatha's daemon can fly, and the spell hits them powerfully. Agatha runs out of the tower and doesn't stop.

The Mage's daemon is a white bull terrier. When he was rising to power, he billed it as nonthreatening, a common daemon. The Families have peacocks, dragons, leopards- even Natasha Grimm-Pitch's raven was unusually large and grand. But he was a common man with a common dog. He would not have let the public see him like this. The dog is vicious. The dog clamps its teeth onto the goat, bleats and kicks. The goat throws the dog off momentarily by raking it with her horns from underneath, but Ebb and her goat aren't trained for a battle like this.

The Mage demands Ebb's power, for the World of Mages, he says. He unsheathes his sword and Ebb backs away from him, holding her staff between them and casting chaos.

The Mage holds up his own wand, and points it at Ebb's daemon. " ** _Got your goat!_** " he casts, and the goat can't move- it's as if her hooves have grown roots. Ebb's never been able to stretch their bond, never had a reason to. But now, her inability to leave her goat behind also keeps her from avoiding Davy's sword. He sinks it into her chest. The goat disappears.

Simon arrives, a boy with wings and a tail and seemingly superhuman strength, as he's holding his dog as he flies.

"Simon," the Mage tells him, "You're not the Chosen One."

Relief and something else swell in Simon's chest. It makes sense. Of course. Simon was never the Chosen One. The Chosen One was a hero, not him. The Chosen One would have a lion or griffin or dragon, not a simple yellow dog.

The Mage holds Simon's face, regretful. Simon's dog looks at the Mage's, pleadingly, needing reassurance, but unlike the golden retriever, the bull terrier is unrevealing. The Mage thinks he can fix Simon. And then the Humdrum appears.

Like the visitations, the Humdrum is a disturbing image: a solitary human shape. "When did you get wings?" the Humdrum demands of Simon. His jealousy is just like a child's. "I'll never have wings, or a sword, or a proper ball. Or a dog." The Humdrum looks at the golden retriever, and Simon grips its neck protectively. The boy from whom the Humdrum was made had had an unsettled daemon, lively and changing. The Humdrum has nothing, no soul. Simon realizes that, like Penny said, this is sad.

Simon pushes the Mage off him and goes to the boy. He reaches out his hand and, curious, the Humdrum takes it. "I'm sorry," Simon says. "I'm sorry that you're alone. But here." Simon places the Humdrum's hand on the golden retriever's fur. The dog closes its eyes as the boy's hand passes down its back. It doesn't feel awful and wrong like it would if another person touched his daemon. To Simon, all it feels like is a melancholy that settles in his body. The Humdrum looks up at Simon, and his expression is grateful. He nods, just slightly, and Simon nods back. He puts both hands on the boy-shaped hole, and he fills it.

**Author's Note:**

> All mentioned daemons:  
> Simon- golden retriever  
> Penny- little owl  
> Agatha- canary  
> Baz- dragonsnake  
> The Mage- white bull terrier  
> Ebb- goat  
> Natasha Pitch- raven


End file.
